tag: Tata Steel 2016 - Page 1

2/2/2016 – It was a thrilling finale to a thrilling tournament. Magnus Carlsen added a fabulous fifth Wijk aan Zee title to his resume, tying Anand for the record. Fabiano Caruana's hope to snatch it ended up in ashes as he lost to Tomashevsky. Still, his tiebreak guaranteed second place. The Challengers was a tight affair, with Adhiban taking first. Large illustrated report.

1/31/2016 – It was round twelve, and Magnus Carlsen had just drawn against Wesley So. Two players saw this as their chance: Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren, and they led the day with great wins and fascinating games. Daniel King brings his grandmaster magnifying glass and looks at Caruana's win over Dutch player Loek Van Wely. Here is the video with his GM analysis.

1/30/2016 – All will be decided in the last round. After draw with So, Carlsen ensured at least a half point advantage in the last round, but a win by Caruana against Van Wely kept his chances alive for an 11th hour surprise. As if that were not enough, Ding won himself and is right behind Caruana, and could even steal gold if he beats Carlsen in the last round. Report, photos and games.

1/30/2016 – After a long and grueling competition, the players begin showing signs of fatigue, leading to missed chances, and unexpected saves. Round eleven saw this in the spades, with a significant impact on the standings. GM King analyzes the ending between Carlsen and Hou, as well as the cliffhanger between Caruana and Mamedyarov, and the miracle save by Giri vs Adams. Enjoy the video analysis.

1/29/2016 – Magnus Carlsen beat Hou Yifan doing what he does best: grinding an endgame until his opponent cracks. This helped him open a one point lead after Caruana failed to make the most of his edge against Mamedyarov. Ding Liren moved into clear third after beating Tomaeshevsky with black. The Challengers is wide open after Dreev leveled with Adhiban. Large illustrated report.

1/27/2016 – All eyes were on Giri vs Carlsen, since the young Dutch GM has a positive score against the World Champion, but a draw ensued. Caruana took advantage, closing the distance to half a point after completely dominating Wei Yi. The big game in the Challengers between the two leaders Adhiban and Safarli ended in an important win for the Indian. Large illustrated report with analysis by Carlsen.

1/26/2016 – It started slow, with four uninspiring draws, but the Magnus locomotive has now reached peak speed with a fourth win, and is now in the lead by a full point. Prodigy Wei Yi finally scored his first win, after a one-sided demolition of Navara’s kingside. In the Challengers, Adhiban fell to Dutch talent Van Foreest, and is tied with Safarli for first. Illustrated report with GM analysis.

1/25/2016 – In round 8 David Navara played against Fabiano Caruana. Carlsen and Caruana were leading after round 7. In a Nimzoindian Navara ended up with an isolated double pawn on the c file after the opening. After exchanging a lot of pieces Navara improved his position from move to move in the endgame. Daniel King shows this game as his "Game of the day"...

1/24/2016 – Perhaps the first sign the round would not be ‘business as usual’ was when Carlsen chose the …g6 variation of the Ruy Lopez, eventually drawing Karjakin. Caruana seemed poised to take advantage, as he obtained a significant edge against Navara, only to get pushed off the board. Still, the biggest surprise was Eljanov failing to convert a dead won endgame against Adams. Report, pictures, analysis.

1/23/2016 – How else to describe a round in which the leaders clashed and big results came of them? Magnus Carlsen was quick to pressure Pavel Eljanov and won a fascinating game after the latter sacrificed a piece for play. Quicker still, was Baskaran Adhiban who demolished his co-leader Alexey Dreev in 24 moves, while Caruana ground down Ding to share lead with Magnus. Large illustrated report.

1/22/2016 – It was a fascinating round, dominated early on by the speed with which Carlsen took apart Tomaschevsky, invading the 7th and wrapping it up a few moves later. Anish Giri was the second of the day, defeating Mamedyarov, while Hou Yifan almost joined the lead after outplaying Wei Yi in an endgame, only to stumble and draw at the end. Report with analysis by IM Sagar Shah.

1/21/2016 – The fifth round of the Masters was a highly combative one, with gritty chess on all boards. Ding Liren defeated Sergey Karjakin to join Fabiano Caruana in the lead after the latter drew Hou Yifan. Mamedyarov also scored versus Adams, but the cliffhanger of the day was Magnus Carlsen’s gutsy win with black over Van Wely, sacrificing a piece. Illustrated report with GM analysis.

1/20/2016 – For many fans, Wednesday was a rest day at the Tata Steel tournament, with Carlsen and Co. taking a day off, but this was really only for the Masters, as the Challengers steamed ahead for round five. Thursday will reverse these roles. As to the rest day, it was filled with football mayhem and fun with the VIPs, all captured in photos by Alina L’Ami.

1/19/2016 – This famous phrase by Yogi Berra has defined the last couple of rounds in many ways, as surprise reversals took place with dramatic effect. Yet at the last possible moment, when the losing side had already accepted his fate, a miracle happened. Today lightning struck Caruana, who let Giri off in a won endgame. Tied for second place is… Hou Yifan(!) who beat Navara. Report with GM analysis.

1/19/2016 – Things are heating up in Wijk aan Zee. Caruana is leading the tournament with 2,5 out of 3 beating Adams and Eljanov. The game of the day for Daniel King was Navara vs Giri which he analysed in his highlight video. Navara sacrificed a whole rook for the attack. If he could manage to convert into a win you can see in this video...

1/18/2016 – After winning against Michael Adams in round three of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament Fabiano Caruana now has 2.5/3 and emerged as sole leader of the tournament. Pavel Eljanov won the second game decisive game of the round when Shakhriyar Mamedyarov blundered a rook in one move in a winning position. The five other games were tense but ended in a draw. Report and games.

1/17/2016 – In the key encounter Caruana held Carlsen to a 32-move draw with the black pieces after an unorthodox opening. Giri vs Ding was one move longer, also drawn. Hou fought So for 54 moves, but that game too ended in a draw. In the Challengers there were no less than five decisive games, with Batsiashvili remarkably beating van Foreest with black. Report, pictures, video.

1/16/2016 – The first round of the Tata Steel Tournament 2016 in Wijk aan Zee saw interesting games and three wins in the Masters group: Wesley So outplayed Anish Giri, Ding Liren showed good opening knowledge, inspired ideas in the middlegame, and technical skills in the endgame to win against Michael Adams. Fabiano Caruana won a fine attacking game against Pavel Eljanov. The other four games were drawn. The players in the Challengers were less peaceful - they did not play a single draw.

Enjoy the best moments of recent top tournaments (Norway Chess, FIDE GP Moscow, WCh Teams) with analysis of top players. In addition you'll get lots of training material. For example 11 new suggestions for your opening repertoire.

The attention will be paid to the castled king and in particular on ways of exploiting the weakened kingside. Several well-known themes, pawnformations and other attacking weapons are covered in 8 chapters.

Like a fine wine, the Four Knights only improves with age, establishing itself as an extremely effective way of meeting 1...e5. On the outside this opening seems deceptively quiet, yet apparently natural moves can often lead to some devastating attacks.

It was back in the 1920s that the Russian master Benjamin Blumenfeld invented his famous gambit 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 b5!?, and to the present day the opening retains great popularity. Black plays for the initiative and the win from the word go.

Enjoy the best moments of recent top tournaments (Shamkir, Baden-Baden, US Champs) with analysis of top players. In addition you'll get lots of training material. For example 12 new suggestions for your opening repertoire.